Organizing Kid's Backpacks

Children are like a whole category, a whole book, a whole movie on organizing! Your life might be pretty well put together until you bring that little bundle of joy home, and then watch out!!

As I even begin to write this, I am thinking about all the topics with kids..so this will be about the "backpack!"

Are you like me, and everyday you pick up the little cutie at the bus or school and into the house they run for a snack, tossing the backpack on the floor? And they are off and running!

Okay, the backpack comes in and lands on the floor, what do you do? Really my child is just about old enough to put things away, so before long.. this blog entry might become required reading..

Like anything, just deal with it as it happens. Like the mail (you know how I feel about the mail!)Open it up. Take out the lunch pail, any papers, any books, any random toys or clothes, etc.. Just today I found damp mittens and a hat, I must not have done a good job yesterday! That is a surefire way to get the musty smell going, never leave anything damp in an enclosed space. There are things that stay in the backpack, like a tissue package, music player, pens, etc..but if not watched everyday, soon it is a catch all for a lot of junk.

-The lunch pail is emptied of any trash or recycling and rinsed out if necesary. Nothing worse than a sticky lunch box.

-Papers, papers and more papers!! School work--review it by that evening with your child, smile at all the "great job" and happy face stickers, and then most goes in the recycle bin, saving a favorite or two, maybe..it adds up fast. School notes, etc..frankly there is way too much paper for me, but I read it all then and there, recycle what I can, and save anything I need, in a drawer or on my calendar (Note I save very l i t t l e paper..)

-Junk there is always junk. A left over baggie, small papers with notes, a broken toy, on and on. Again, it adds up fast, so just take 5 minutes and go through it.

-Once you are done, the backpack has a home someplace. For us, it is a little bin in the coat closet right by the front door, always the same place. Coats are hung up right above it, and shoes are in a bin right next to it. Like a "getting ready for school" station right there.

-If there were any damp items, they have been dried and put back or replaced with others--hats, gloves, etc..if you live in a cold and rainy place.

And this goes on day after day, with a respite for the weekend. And then comes that wonderful day in June, when the backpack gets cold storage for 60 days :) If you have more than one little one, you have a lot more to keep up with. I think by age 9 or so they can be given the job of dealing with their own "stuff."

Clutter being my NUMBER ONE peeve, I cannot handle back packs, and jackets, and shoes, and everything else lining the entry way, mud room, laundry room etc..so easy to put things away.